Visiting Bucharest again was a very interesting experience, judging by the fact that I have not been there in the last 17 years – so it was pretty easy for me to see that the city changed, that the old comunist buildings are now fading away, while office buildings "made of glass" seem to take over the northern part of the city.

But what I remember very well and make me wonder why I have not been there in the last years is the fact that I saw the most beautiful womens in the world on the streets of this city.

Yes, the women in Bucharest like to thrill your view with modern clothing, and they are always very well dressed, and at the same time they are using the make-up like true artists do.

So of course I wanted to try to find some massage saloons, or to get some interesting experience and have a glance at the night life, although I was here with a lot of business.

Finally, when I realised that I won't have the time to get out in a club to try my luck, I searched on the internet (google it, of course) and after a couple of tries and a couple of websites where I have studied what can be done and how can be done, I have decided to use the services of the Confidential massage saloon.

This saloon is very interesting, as they are really offering a wide array of services, even with some oriental types of massage, which is fantastic, but in my case the thing that I was interested in was to actually have a great massage at the hotel, which a realisesd through a booking on their website – click here to find more.

So yes – I had again, after 17 years, a very iteresting experience in Bucharest.

This post is written by the lovely Dalya Moon, who was referred to me by my previous guest, deshipley. With her words:

Tamara Paulin (authorial alias, Dayla Moon) sums herself up in her blog’s hello: “I’m just like you; I wake up with perfect hair and makeup, and bluebirds help me put on my silk robe.” In additon to her humble everywomanhood, she has a delightful sense of humor. I’ve been enjoying her posts for a few weeks, now, and I’m willing to bet you’ll have fun with her, too.

MotivationImage by topshampatti via FlickrIn high school, I finished every assignment at the last minute: on the bus, on the way to school. Later in life, when I became a freelance graphic designer, I set my own deadlines, and I still did most of the work at the last minute.

But in 2002, something happened that changed my approach to work. I woke up one morning in September with an excruciating pain in my chest. It felt like a knife. It was an anxiety attack.

I decided I never wanted to feel that last-minute panic again. My external motivation–fear of failure to my design clients–wasn’t enough.

For the first time in my life, I tried internal motivation. I sought the personal pleasure of starting projects early, having a solid plan, and finishing by my own internal soft deadline, well ahead of the hard external deadline.

So, if you want to finish writing a book, how are you going to change your work habits? (And let’s face it, writing is work–often pleasurable and immensely satisfying, but still work.)

Some writers seek external motivators. They’ll start a blog and declare they’ll write x number of words per day, posting updates or excuses. Some take a workshop or course with built-in deadlines, and they’ll complete their assignments to avoid embarrassment in front of the other students, or because they don’t want to waste the tuition money.

Those aren’t bad ideas, and if they work for you, I say go for it.

But … what about finding the motivation and drive within yourself? What about deciding your hopes and dreams aren’t silly at all? You don’t even need to tell another living soul if you don’t want to.

Even if you have supportive friends and family–and I hope you do–know that the most important person to have caring about your goals is you.

Why not make a promise to yourself, and focus on the pleasure of meeting your goals ahead of (a reasonable) schedule? Why not try to exceed your own expectations of yourself? Start simple, and be supportive of all progress. Try schedules or progress charts or cupcakes or anything else that helps. But most importantly, give yourself permission to feel good, to feel proud of what you’re doing for yourself.

You’re the one holding the pen; you’re the one with the most to gain.

* * *BIO: Dalya Moon writes novels that are called “sweet” and “light-hearted.” She may have to one day murder someone (on the page) to be taken seriously, but for now she’s happy to not be taken seriously at all. She is the author of Charlie Woodchuck is a Minor Niner and Practice Cake, which are both available on Amazon and Smashwords. www.dalyamoon.com

When I’m stuck in my writing I always take a book out – doesn’t matter what, if I only read to motivate myself to write again, it can be a good book, a bad book, a boring book, I’d find something that nudges me to go back and continue with writing. It’s actually better when a book is bad because it’s easier to stop reading.

Last week, I read a bad book. And still couldn’t put it down. It wasn’t the story, it wasn’t the one-dimensional characters or the author’s rather boring voice. It was the relationships. It was love, all love, unselfish, complete and quite innocent love – and I couldn’t stop reading. I dove into it and didn’t want to come up to see that’s all just been a dream. Fiction.

As a consequence, I was quite… distant these days, my mind was in a completely different place and was happy to be there.

Which also meant that my blogging, my writing, my nano was put aside. I don’t like that part much now but still, my head is too dazzled with Edward to bother much. (Oh yeah, you’ve caught me: I’m on the dark side now. I’m a Twilight fan.)

As for nano, it means that I’m a tad behind. I’m 9173 words instead of the target 11667 – given that I’ve missed two whole days, this cc. 78% is not too bad. But I’ll have to work even harder to bring it up again.

As for blogging, I simply didn’t have the capacity to visit all my favourite people and it makes me feel even guiltier. I should not do that.

Looking back, this week was about characters – I showed you how my Baul started off as Matthew Perry, deshipley shared some conversations with her characters and I’ve also found some interesting videos in the topic.

So how was your week? Any interesting conversation you had with your own, or somebody else’s characters?

This post was written by one of my favourite bloggers, deshipley, aka Danielle, who is a frequent visitor here and always brights my day with her comments. I’ve asked her to talk to us about character interviews because she does them so well. Here it goes, and don’t forget to let us know what you think.

“Oh, Author…” (This generally said with a pitying sigh, or perhaps merely a condescending headshake, on the part of my minstrel marvel, Gant-o’-the-Lute.) “Wherever would you be without me?”
I usually try to get around answering that question, on the grounds that the asker’s ego doesn’t need the boost. But the fact is, my writing truly would be worth little without the characters who live the books and, thereby, give them life. The characters make the story, and the author makes the characters (…with “the usual exception” of Gant-o’-the-Lute who, I swear, half-created himself). It is imperative, then, that We the Authors of the World, in Order to form a more-perfect-than-not work of Fiction, do our darnedest to make our characters seem real.

“What’s real in your world about a talking, five-foot-five, practically primatial wild fox in a top hat?” questions Glyph, with a lazy swish of his bright, bushy tail.

Well, of course I didn’t mean “real” in the “being or occurring in fact or actuality” sense. We’re talking fiction; reality need have little place here, but realness is requisite. Therefore, the characters must come across as the “genuine and authentic” sort of real to the readers, which is easiest done when they feel that sort of real to their authors.

So what do you do when you just can’t seem to get a sense of who your characters are? When their innermost hearts are closed to you? When you have no idea how they would react to that wild plot point you plan to throw at them in Chapter Seven because you don’t know what makes them tic? That’s when it’s time for a little Q and A; an author/character chitchat.

“An interrogation under a hot bulb, with everyone and their secondary antagonist sniggering from the other side of the two-way mirror,” grumbles Bruno, because he’s a Mr. Sunshine type o’ teen, like that.

As Bruno’s grousing demonstrates, not every character will be eager to bare their souls to you. Something broad and open-ended like “So, tell me about yourself” may not yield the sort information you were hoping to get. For your more reluctant charries, I would recommend you take a more organized approach. Get together a list of specific questions, and tackle them one by one in a thorough interview. My preferred resource? What I call The Anything and Everything Character Questionnaire.

“…Of doom,” my tailor Edgwyn adds, in the laughing, extra-deep version of his otherwise baritone voice that signifies he’s looking to amuse.

It’s not actually meant to be doomful (despite what Bruno would have you believe) – although, I admit, some questions can be inherently awkward, or else lead unexpectedly to some pretty painful stuff. I’ve had characters break down crying mid-quiz, or storm off in a rage that only a few hours’ timeout could lessen. When you’re talking about anything and everything from their first memories, to their sense of morals, to their love life, you really never know what’s going to come up. And that’s the beauty of it: Just letting your characters talk, and learning what their words reveal.

You could unearth bits of backstory you’d never thought to imagine (for example, extracted from Glyph’s turn at the questionnaire):

Most Prized Possession and Why: It’s bound to be that hat again.
“Because it’s important,” Glyph says. “It was to be my first ever hat, and the payment the spider wanted for it was a damselfly, because her webs had never once caught a damselfly, and she’d grown terribly curious about how one would taste. So I set out to catch the required damselfly, and found one being pursued by a dragonfly. And I decided that I would rather save the damselfly, and kill the dragonfly, and give it to the spider instead. So I did, and she was most excited (because, of course, dragonflies are bigger than damselflies), so I got my hat, and I got Jewel.” (His damselfly sidekick.) “A very good day.”
You could discover secret desires that are a fundamental part of the character’s makeup (e.g., from Bruno’s session):
If Granted One Wish, What Would it Be and Why: “Oh, boy, I get a wish,” he says with lackluster glee. “…I wish that American cheese was actually cheese.”
Or you could watch in amazement as various answers work together in such a way that you’re almost looking at a short story within the dialogue (which would take too much space to illustrate here, so I’ll just hope I’ve managed to build up enough credibility in your eyes that you can take my word for it). And these mini dramas can serve as inspiration for other short stories, or even for new novels. (For goodness’ sake, I hadn’t been planning to write a sequel for my “Ballad of Allyn-a-Dale” until the rich storylines within various Merry Men questionnaires drove me to it!)
Getting to know your characters is one of the best things you can do for your stories. More than that, turning your author/character relationship into one of friendship just makes for a more rewarding experience all around. Isn’t that so, Lute old buddy?
“Oh, absolutely,” he says, tone suggestive of humoring a mental patient.
Ah, well. What’s the life of an author of fiction without a little harmless delusion?
Thank you Danielle, I really enjoyed the banter you have with your characters! Have you guys done, or do you do anything like this at all? Do you talk to your characters, or do you think that’s rather crazy?

More than twenty years ago, smoking was very popular, almost considered a “must have” for those years fashion. Today people focus on a healthy lifestyle and the already smokers are trying to change this bad habbit as well. One of the best ways to do that so far is vaping eliquids instead of smoking tabacco.

If you decide to try out vaping eliquids, you shoud know that even British Charities such as British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK, but also the Royal College of Physicians are encouraging the change from a tabacco cigarette to an e-cigarette. Professor John Britton said that vaping has the potential to prevent premature death and disease caused by smoking if you make the change in time. Accourding to the Office for National Statistics, more than 860.000 people wich are ex-smokers, are currently users of e-cigarettes.

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